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Vortex (Kings Island)
Vortex is a steel roller coaster at Kings Island located in Mason, Ohio. Designed and built by Arrow Dynamics at a cost of $4 million, the ride officially opened to the public on April 11, 1987. Vortex debuted as the tallest, full-circuit roller coaster with the highest drop in the world. It was also the first to feature six inversions. Vortex occupies the same location in the park once held by The Bat, the world's first suspended roller coaster. Attendance at the park exceeded 3 million in 1987 for the first time in the park's history. With more than 38 million rides given, the roller coaster is one of the most popular attractions at Kings Island to date. History For the design and construction of Vortex, Kings Island turned to Arrow Dynamics, an industry-leading manufacturer at the time. Construction began in the winter of 1986 on the former location of The Bat, the world's first suspended roller coaster, which was removed after the 1984 season. Kings Island invested over $4 million on the ride, which required 750 tons of steel to construct. The line queue and train station from The Bat were reused for the Vortex. The ride opened to the public on April 11, 1987, and helped the park exceed 3 million visitors for the first time in its history. At its inauguration, Vortex briefly set a few records for full-circuit roller coasters. It was the tallest, featured the highest drop, and had the most inversions with six. All were surpassed the following year with the debut of Shockwave at Six Flags Great America. Vortex has been repainted at least twice: during the 2001 season and again in April 2009 before opening day. The ride celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012, and since its debut, Vortex has given more than 38 million rides – sixth-most in Kings Island's history as of 2012. Ride experience As the train leaves the station, it dips slightly taking a hard right into the beginning of the lift hill. The train ascends slowly giving riders a view of the park including The Beast to the left, Diamondback straight ahead, and the Eiffel Tower to the right. Once reaching the top, the train dips slightly, immediately making a right hand turn into a 138 ft, 55-degree nosedive down the first drop. The train then ascends into a left-banking turn as the track flattens out. After turning roughly 180 degrees, the track straightens briefly before descending into a sharp left turn that takes riders through two vertical loops. Off the vertical loops, the train ascends, goes around a 180 degree turn to the right, and enters the midcourse brake run, which slows the train almost to a complete stop. Next, the train drops off the midcourse brakes into a pair of corkscrews. The second corkscrew threads through the gap directly between the vertical loops. The train then goes through a right hand turn and goes through a batwing inversion, a heart-shaped element containing both a dive loop and an immelmann loop, that inverts riders two additional times. There is an on-ride camera in the dip between the two parts of the batwing. The train then enters its final maneuver – a 450-degree ascending clockwise helix – that generates positive g forces before the train hits the final brake run. A final right-hand turn is made to re-enter the station.